Video: Narrative lessons from Road Not Taken

Road Not Taken has wowed critics with its storytelling -- despite being a roguelike, a genre not primarily known for emphasizing and excelling at narrative. What led to this?

In the video above, taken from last year's Full Indie summit and just published on YouTube, Spry Fox designer and co-founder Daniel Cook delivers a talk about how the game's storytelling took shape.

Last year, Cook told Gamasutra that the inspiration for Road Not Taken was "a painful topic, so I tend not to talk about it," and that tone underscores the game and the complex feelings it engenders in players. You can learn more by watching the video.

If you want to learn about the nuts and bolts of Road Not Taken's game design, meanwhile, you can read Cook's game design deep dive into the game's movement system.